Building my life after the devastating effects of Necrotizing Fasciitis
(The Flesh Eating Bacteria)

Friday, January 29, 2016

Bronchitis... and gapey's opinion of it.

Who knew?

Who knew that me having a bronchitis cough would Hurt. So. Much.

Not hurt my chest... well, that, too, but that's no big deal. Chest muscles always hurt when you cough a lot. Nothing to write home about (or write a blog about).

But *this*... each cough is an experience in spasmodic pain, the likes of which I haven't experienced since the year I had the surgery that put the mesh in Gapey. That was a year of pain. It was the worst surgery I had to endure out of all of them. It was July 2010, and it was a horrifically painful surgery.

So it turns out that coughing, for about five days now, pretty intensively, makes a *lot* of pressure on gapey and the mesh, and I feel like I'm coming apart at the seams. I feel sharp stabbing pains (plural) in my lower left belly (skin grafts) with every cough. It was so bad the other day that I was sure I must have internal bleeding, or one of the pins which holds the mesh down got loose. It hurt that much.

So I went to an urgent care facility, being that I knew I needed an x-ray, and also that my regular doctor wasn't available.

They x-rayed my chest (to make sure my lungs were clear, and they are, BH) and my belly. The surgeon there said that all the pins are present and accounted for. That the pain I am feeling isn't dangerous, it's just pressure. He tried to convince me that the graft and mesh can hold up to the pressure of the coughing.

I hope he's right. I've had many coughs in my life, some really bad bronchitis, but I don't think I've had one this whole time since the mesh surgery. This is a whole new experience for me.

So the doc there gave me a good cough syrup, the goal being that I gotta stop coughing so the graft/mesh can mellow out. The syrup works ~a bit~. Maybe I get a few hours of cough-free time, but mostly the coughing persists, but perhaps less when I take the medicine.

I just have to wait this out. I don't have any fever, and my blood test at the clinic the other day was negative for infection, which is awesome.

We just are hoping that this pain goes away when the cough does. It hurts something fierce. I grasp my belly and double over when I cough. *Not* a pretty sight.

Let's pray that the mesh supporting my belly holds up to all the pressure, and that the damn cough goes away soon!!!!

(...and the rehabilitation of my right thigh surgery three months ago doesn't regress because I haven't done physical therapy or gym in a while.... I try to stretch and do some exercises, but my tolerance for pushing myself is pretty low these days.)

3 comments
:

Hi Sarah,I don't want to bother, you really--but I feel bad for your suffering. Now would likely be a good time to take Mel's inhalations which he prepares every day for sick people. People come by all the time to pick up these bags that he prepares for the nebuliser...It's not the usual kind. He puts in all kinds of things like glutathione and hydrogen peroxide, maybe magnesium, even colloidal silver which kills all viruses...whatever is necessary (not just a simple salt mixture that they advise at the kupat cholim). It seems to clear most of our patients (and their children!) of their colds, flus, coughs, etc. (along with their vitamin program to strengthen the immune system). Probably would help you, anyway. Although --Mel feels you likely have many deficiencies that are causing all these problems. They can persist if the immune system is weak. Plus a weak immune system can lead to other problems, in the future.

I realize that it's a pain to come and a bigger pain to pay. We are happy to help as much as we can, but you would need to understand that it's a commitment. He has many things to offer you for all areas of your issues but it's not a one-time-fix. If you think you can commit for a while and see how things go, then give it a try. Healing is not simple and requires many things. His patients need to take everything he tells them to and follow his treatment plan for best results (and sometimes for any results).

Kupat Cholim is free--but you know what is offered in this world for free! Drugs are 'free'. Healing is expensive. We hope in time to put pressure on the system (through the growing list of patients to make a change to the system, one day. We think it's possible...but will take time and lots of pressure, strong lobby. If enough people are tired of the poisons and start rejecting them...and are getting well with their vitamins, etc....it can work!)

When you feel a cough coming, grab a pile and press it against gapey, so that your body doesn't have to bear all the counter pressure alone

Where did I hear of this trick? Advice given to a patient who'd gone through the same surgery Tamara is having tomorrow morning. Afterwards, there is a serious slice through the abdominal muscles that needs to heal and coughing or sneezing can be extremely painful. The pillow gives a counter pressure that helps reduce the stress on the damaged area.

Thanks for giving the tip. I know it well, though. :)I had a c-section before I ever had any other belly problems, and then I learned the pilow against the belly patent. I used it for every surgery since.

With this specific problem, though, it hasn't been helping. There is no open incision, so maybe that's why? WHo knows. But, unfortunately , I was right. I told the guy at the urgent care center the other day that I was worried about internal bleeding around the graft/reshet. He said he didn't see anything, and don't worry. It's just pressure.

Yesterday we started to see the signs of internal bleeding... the skin grafts got blotchy purple and red, and spread throughout the day. My theory is that there *was* bleeding that day that I was in agony, but it wasn't visible until yesterday, when it came more to the surface. like a bruise. It still hurts like hell, though.

The only thing that will help is getting rid of the cough. The bleeding will stop when the pressure stops messing with things in there. Tomorrow I hope to go to this doctor who swears by his own concoction of inhalation meds, that it cures any cough. He is very reputable around here. He's actually more than a naturapath=he's a licenced MD, specializing in orthomolecular medicine. Mel Litman- look him up. I may start getting treated by him. Not sure yet.

About me and the blog

This blog is about the hard stuff that has happened to me since I got sick... very sick, in 2007. When you read it, please know also that there is lots and lots of GOOD, amazing, miraculous things in my life. I need this blog, however, to get out the hard stuff.
That hard stuff started out with a simple run-of-the-mill surgical procedure to fix a small hernia I had. I was completely healthy before that. Four days after the operation, I was readmitted to the hospital in tremendous pain. Nobody knew what was wrong, some nurses didn't even believe my pain was that bad. Tests were done, nothing was noticed. A few days later I was taken in for an exploratory surgery to see if the source of the problem could be identified.
The next thing I knew after going under for the exploratory surgery was that I woke up many days later, from a coma, completely unable to move my body or communicate.
I slowly learned that I almost died from the “flesh eating bacteria”, Necrotizing Fasciitis. I had suffered tremendous bodily damage, but survived.
From that point on, my life has been taken over by medical problems, more diseases, many more surgeries and so much pain.
When asked what I do, I say I am no longer able to work, but I am an orchestra musician, I play french horn, and I am a birth doula. Since 2008, however, I have not been able to work.
I am blessed to be able to raise my four beautiful children and continue life with my loving husband, Robert. That is indeed my life's work. When I got sick, I was 39, and my kids ranged in age from 1 + ½ to 7. It has been an amazing, tremendously difficult journey we have all been on. I invite you to randomly read blog entries from this blog, as well as the CaringBridge blog, which can be found on a button under this write-up.
I appreciate all your letters and feedback either personally or on my blog. The support and encouragement I feel from my readers is the fuel for my writing. I thank you for joining my journey!

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"footbridge", by Ruth Gresser

Getting from one side to the other is where we find the colorful part of living...

People, Places & Things

Robert= husband, friend, anchor, ezer k'negdo.

Dov= oldest child, boy variety

Ya'akov= 2nd child, also boy variety

Shifra= 3rd child, girl variety

Azriel (Wazi)= 4th child, again, boy variety

Emma= my dog. We adopted her while she was pregnant (how else does a dog get to Sarah?), she had her 7 puppies here in our garden, we raised them for 3 months, and then one-by-one gave them away to new homes. We have Emma with us now, a dearly beloved part of our family.

Gapey= the large (26cm x 13cm, or 11in. x 6in.) wound on my left upper thigh/lower belly/groin after the debridement surgery took out all skin layers, parts of muscle & ligament

Scrapey= the other wound; the area all around my right thigh where the skin was taken in rectangular patches for the graft which was used to close gapey.

Shapey= the odd shape on my left outer thigh which was caused by the cellulitis infection (March 2008). It is still damaged looking, and remains sore to the touch